Not a happy new year

A horrible start to the year for our Footscray neighbourhood. A fire has just destroyed one house on the main road and is currently threatening adjoining properties. The smoke is awful. Embers are flying about in the wind. The police have established a road block and are redirecting traffic to let the five fire engines deal with the problem unhindered. The good news is that we're pretty sure that everyone escaped the fire without injury. I spoke too soon. Three people died.

I'll update this when I find out more. I really don't have anything else to add.